Financial crisis: Government intervention or free-market-pain?

September 30, 2008 7:03 PM

Current_financial _crisisFilter: Where can I read the single best arguments for government intervention to rescue the financial markets and economy, and the single best argument for zero/minimal government intervention in this current financial crisis? (Looking for links to articles, blog posts, etc -- not opinions -- from MeFites...)
posted by chefscotticus to work & money (6 comments total)

My personal choice for understanding what happened and what needs to be done is Dr. Nouriel Roubini's RGE Monitor.

It's a very busy site, but you want to go to his "10 Steps" to find his plan for government intervention done right. Dr. Roubini (an NYU Stern School of Business Economics Professor) explains here what the current dangers are if we don't intervene. Registration is required for the whole article but it's free.

His explanation of what went wrong (which, by the way, he pretty much called 18 months ago, step by scary step) is in several places all over the blog, including here.

Honestly, IMO I haven't seen a compelling argument that the government should not intervene.
posted by slo at 7:27 PM on September 30, 2008

Not sure what you mean by "not opinions".

I like this a lot (against).
posted by icarus at 8:51 PM on September 30, 2008

Here's another one (against) that is way more on target than what Icarus provided. (IMHO of course)

Icarus? Come on.... a libertarian trying to say it was government regulation that created this mess? Its pretty widely accepted that it was all the result of deregulation. The author must also think we should eliminate the Fed, Treasury Dept, SEC, and any/all rules that businesses must follow.

BTW, I agree with SLO. Dr. Roubini is a great source for information.
posted by purenitrous at 9:26 PM on September 30, 2008

I should have qualified my (against). I think Rep Defazio supports a bailout, just not the one being offered to Congress at this time.
posted by purenitrous at 9:29 PM on September 30, 2008

Any thread with icarus's link in it needs this one as well for balance.
posted by flabdablet at 12:35 AM on October 1, 2008

And here are non-b0rked versions of slo's second and third links.
posted by flabdablet at 12:37 AM on October 1, 2008